Home sales in the secondary market registered strong growth during the Easter holiday as more owners joined the price-cutting strategy employed by developers to spark buying interest.

During the four-day holiday that ended yesterday, 42 flats were sold at 10 housing estates tracked by Midland Realty, an increase of 75 per cent from the Easter break last year.

"It was driven by more owners willing to offer discounts after developers' aggressive market launches at competitive prices to entice buyers," said Sammy Po Siu-ming, chief executive of the residential department at Midland.

The agency said a three-bedroom, 702-square-foot unit at Yuan Kung Mansion in Taikoo Shing changed hands for HK$8.75 million, below the asking price of HK$8.9 million.

Lawrence Ng, a sales director at Midland's Mei Foo Sun Chuen branch, said owners had become more realistic by offering 5 to 6 per cent discounts to compete for buyers.

Sales volume in the primary residential market remained positive, with buyers snapping up more than 100 new homes. The sales were dominated by New World Development's Woodside in Yuen Long and Sun Hung Kai Properties' Mount One in Fanling.

Victor Lui Ting, deputy managing director at SHKP, said yesterday that 87 flats at Mount One were sold since the launch last Tuesday. "We will offer a further 24 units on Friday," he said.

During the first 16 days of this month, the number of registered property transactions, including shops, industrial units and car parks, surged 125 per cent to 3,271 from the same period in March, Midland said.

The overall improved sentiment in the residential market had spilled to the commercial sector, said Buggle Lau Ka-fai, the chief analyst at Midland.

He expects the number of registered transactions to exceed 5,800 this month, compared with 4,184 in March. It would be the highest since the 6,003 deals recorded in December, Midland said.

In the primary residential market, 617 new homes were sold as of April 16, up 233.5 per cent from March, while there was a 131.9 per cent rise in the secondary market with 936 deals done.

In the commercial sector, the number of registered transactions surged 46.8 per cent from March.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Home sales surge over Easter as owners cut prices

The lowering price on housing must be credit to the firm position which has been taken by CY Leung and his administration. If people start to buying flats it should lessen the projected needed number of flats by government if they aren’t accounted for in the last count.
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There is nothing bad about price dropping in housing but infinitely good for Hong Kong as a whole.